Buffing compound



oi an indefinite number of forms.

Patented Feb. 17, 1948 BUFFING COMPOUND Robert V. Twyning and William T.Hakken. Jr., Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors to J. C. Miller Company.Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan No Drawing. ApplicationDecember 30, 1946, Serial No. 719,336

This invention is directed to a buffing compound which is particularlyadapted for the bufflng of chromium plated surfaces to remove stains,cloudiness and other defects, and bringout the color of the plating toits best advantage. The bufilng composition is particularly directed,and hasfor its primary object and purpose, the production of acomposition which, after a chromium plated surface has been bufled, isvery quickly and easily cleaned, that is, the deposit left from thebufling composition on the chromium surface is fully removable in a veryeasy and quick manner by washing or rinsing it in hot water in whichsuch deposit is readily soluble; and it can be removed by mere washinglikewise in various spirits, such as kerosene, gasoline, benzine, andthe like.

Heretofore, so far as'known, the buffing compositions used with chromiumplating have left a deposit on the plating which has been costly toremove, requiring considerable labor to rack the plated articles andsubjecting them to a suitable solution which will remove the deposit,such solution being required to surround each of the articles forsuccessful removal of the deposits. This requires a racking of theplated articles to properly separate them one from the other. With thebuffing composition of our invention, racking is not required, the laborthereof is eliminated and the deposit is readily removed by subjectingthe plated articles in the mass to water at a proper temperature. Suchdeposit removal is required, particularly in conjunction with chromiumplated articles upon the plated surface of which lacquer or enamel is tobe thereafter applied, usually over only parts of the surface, inaccordance with surface designs which combine chromium plating andenamel in any Our invention, after thorough test and trial has beenparticularly successfulv in connection with such work; and the treatmentof chromium plated surfaces, including their bufling and the subsequentcleaning of their surfaces, and the removal of the deposit left thereonfrom the buffing composition is greatly facilitated and reduced in cost.

In the bufling composition which we have produced, in addition toabrasive which forms one ingredient of the composition in azelaic acidwhich is a. dibasic aliphatic acid and solid polyethylene glycol (knownin the trade as carbowax 4000 or carbowaxes 1000 to 7000) used in propercritical proportions with reference to each other to serve as a carrierand binder for the abrasive 6 Claims. (Cl. 51-305) material. Suchmaterial has a melting point approximately 129 degrees Fahrenheit whichon the centigrade scale is substantially 54 degrees. The azelaic acidhas a melting point of substan tially degrees centlgrade. The two aremixed together usually, by weight for the best results which have beenobtained, in proportions of 34.9 to 34.95 percent of the polyethyleneglycol in percent of the binder composition which consists of azelaicacid and solid polyethylene glycol. Such substantially 35 percentpolyethylene glycol, with a melting point of 54 degrees centigrade, andthe remainder or 65 percent substantially of azelaic acid is the optimumwhich'we have found. The invention, however, is of value and will serveits purposes with success, though not quite as well, upon a variation ofthe percentages of the ingredients, approximately 3 percent either wayfrom the 35 percent optimum of polyethylene glycol. That is, the rangeof the polyethylene glycol in general should be between 32 percent to 38percent with 68 percent to 62 percent azelaic acid.

The binding ingredients; namely solid polyethylene glycol and azelaicacid in melted form are thoroughly and homogeneously intermixed andtherewith the abrasive material is disseminated throughout. The bestabrasive material for chrome plating for economy consists of aluminumoxide. Chrome green oxide may also be used and is successfui so far asresults are concerned but is more costly than the aluminum oxide. Thealuminum oxide in a very finely divided form is thoroughly interspersedthrough its carrier or hinder. We used preferably in weight3.22 parts ofthe abrasive to one of the carrier or binder. The invention, however. isnot dependent upon any closeapproximation of such abrasive to binder orcarrier. A less amount of the abrasive may be used, involving somesacrifice of efiiciency as the removal of stains, cloudiness and otherthings to bring out the color of chromium plating is a function of theabrasive, and the more thereof which can be practically and successfullyutilized in any given quantity of the buffing composition. the greaterwill be its effectiveness. Therefore the invention is not to becontrolled in its scope and limited to the particularly specificproportion of the abrasive to its binder or carrier which have, thusfar, been found the best.

With the bufling composition described, the melting point of azelaicacid used in the proportions stated. with the lower melting pointpolyethylene glycol ingredient provides a compo- Clean surfaces arerequired for the subsequent applying of lacquer or enamels of differentcolors. The bumng composition which we have produced is very effectiveand its deposit is so readily re- 6 moved by mere hot water washing thatthe expense of cleaning the surfaces is.reduced to a minimum. Havingthus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is as follows: I

1. A bufllng composition comprising, azelaic acid, solid polyethyleneglycol and an abrasive substantially uniformly mixed together.

2. A buiiing composition comprising. a binder of substantially 35percent solid polyethylene glycol and 65 percent of azelaic acid inweight and an abrasive substantially uniformly interspersedtherethrough.

3. A buiilng compound comprising, a carrier of substantially 35 percentof solid polyethylene /'glycol and 65 percent azelaic' acid by weight,and

an abrasive substantially uniformly interspersed throughout the carrier,in the proportions of 3%, parts by weight of the abrasive to one part ofthe carrier.

4. A buiflng composition comprising, an abrasive carrier of azelaic acidand solid polyethylene glycol inproportions by weight varying betweenapproximately 32 to 38 percent of polyethylene 4 glycol and 68 to 62percent of the azelaic acid, and an abrasive thoroughly andsubstantially uniformly interspersed throughout said carrier.

5. A bufiing composition comprising, a carrier for an abrasiveconsisting of azelaic acid having a melting point of substantiallydegrees 0., andsolid polyethylene glycol in proportions by weight ofsubstantially polyethylene glycol and azelaic acid, and an abrasivedisseminated throughout saidcarrier in proportions approximately byweight, of three parts abrasive to one of the carrier.

6. A bufling composition comprising, a, binder of a. homogeneousintermixture of azelaic acid and solid polyethylene glycol inproportions by weight of of the polyethylene glycol and of azelaic acid,and finely divided aluminum oxide substantially uniformly interspersedthrough said binder in approximate proportions by weight of three partsof the aluminum oxide to one of the binder.

ROBERT V. TWYNING. WILLIAM T. HAKKEN, JR.

OTHER REFERENCES "Synthetic Organic Chemicals." tenth edition, October15, 1940, published by Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation, 30 E.42nd St., New York, N. Y. Pages 67 and 68. (Copy in Div. 64.)

